Italian diplomat faces child abuse charges

World / 26 May 2014, 4:39pm

Manila -

A Philippine prosecutor said on Monday there was probable cause to charge a detained Italian diplomat for allegedly abusing three street children.

Daniele Bosio, 46, was holidaying in Manila when he was arrested last month after a children's advocacy group told police they saw him acting inappropriately with three unsupervised boys at a water fun park near Manila.

The boys, aged 9-12, then issued sworn statements to government social workers that before going to the fun park, Bosio took them to an apartment and “fondled their sex organs”, according to the prosecutor's complaint.

Prosecutor Agripino Baybay, in his findings, rejected Bosio's defence that he was merely being compassionate and helping poor children have fun by taking them to the water park.

“The acts herein complained of, as shown in the evidence at hand, are lamentably not typical or distinctive of genuine affection for and passion to help the children involved,” Baybay said in a nine-page resolution.